Joshua Zirkzee: Ridiculous to put blame solely on Andre Onana for draw at Lyon | OneFootball

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Joshua Zirkzee said it was “ridiculous” to put the blame squarely on under-fire Andre Onana as Manchester United took collective responsibility for blowing a potential victory in Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final at Lyon.

The first leg in France was the Red Devils’ biggest match of the season, given this competition offers the only route to continental qualification and silverware for the side 13th in the Premier League.

The build-up was dominated by a war of words between Nemanja Matic and Onana, whose remark that United were “way better” than Lyon led the former to describe him as “one of the worst goalkeepers in Man United’s history”.

The 29-year-old did little to quell that talk by allowing Thiago Almada’s free-kick to find the net and then parrying Georges Mikautadze’s strike into the path of Rayan Cherki to make it 2-2 in the fifth and final minute of stoppage-time.

Ruben Amorim said “one player has a mistake, all the team has a mistake” when asked about Onana after a game which substitute Zirkzee looked to have won with his header in the 88th minute.

Asked if the United head coach’s feelings were shared by the players, the goalscorer said: “One hundred per cent. We’re one team, so we’re not going to take someone out for making mistakes. That’s ridiculous.”

Amorim admitted he remained “really confident” in Onana, who would be under the microscope when United head to Newcastle this Sunday before looking to seal progress to the Europa League semi-finals at home to Lyon.

“To draw in this way is always a little bit… I don’t want to say frustrating, but it hurts for it to go this way,” Zirkzee said.

“But we just have to focus on the next game and that’s Newcastle away and then we all know what we have to do when we face them again at home next week.

“I’m sure with the full support of the stadium, it’s going to be difficult for them and easier for us, but they’re a great team – let’s not forget that – and it’s not going to be easy, but we all want to win, we have to win, so we’ll see.”

Rangers or Athletic Bilbao await the victor in the semi-finals of a competition that could save United’s season.

“We have to win it, we all know that,” summer signing Zirkzee added. “There’s no way around that. It’s the only thing we have to do.”

Lyon are similarly desperate to lift the Europa League trophy in Bilbao next month, with right-back Ainsley Maitland-Niles confident as they head to Old Trafford.

“It was an exciting game to play in and an exciting game to watch, I imagine,” he said.

“We have mixed emotions as we feel we should have got more from the game, seeing as we controlled the majority of it. But these things happen in football.

“We spoke about (what we need to improve) already.

“There are a few things we need to tweak, but we’re confident we can make those changes ahead of next week.”